A woman “pulls over” a Greenwood Police officer during the department’s Citizens Police Academy. The department is holding another academy in August.
Submitted photo
Police officers go through hours of training to protect the more than 63,000 residents of Greenwood.
Starting in August, Greenwood residents can experience some of what police officers experience first-hand through the police department’s Citizens Police Academy.
The Greenwood Police Department is currently accepting applications for the academy, an 11-week course designed to educate citizens and community stakeholders on policies, procedures, training, job responsibilities associated with policing and more. This is the third academy the department has hosted since launching the program in 2022, said Jim Ison, police chief.
There are two primary goals of the academy. The first is to provide residents with a better understanding of the police’s role in the community, Ison said.
“Most people think they know, but police officers wear many, many hats,” he said. “There’s a lot of specialty specialties in special trainings and different aspects of the jobs that some people don’t even know that we do; that these officers have to have very intense and specialized training to be able to perform. So, it kind of gives them an idea of what the officers experience on a day-to-day basis.”
The second goal is to provide an open forum of communication between our agency and the people they serve, Ison said.
Greenwood Police accepts 20 people per class, which this year is on Tuesday evenings from 6 to 9 p.m. from Aug. 13 to Oct. 29. During the 11-week course, participants learn about traffic stops, crisis intervention, accident investigations, search and seizure, use of force, criminal investigations, crime scene processing, narcotics, SWAT, active shooters and more. After a week-long fall break, they go on a ride-along with officers before graduating from the program.
For the traffic stop training, participants will use simulation guns with rubber bullets, and be required to put on protective eyewear. They’ll pull over instructors in a parking lot and let a scenario play out — the playing out dependent upon how they decide to handle it, ” Ison said.
“They’re put in a split-second life or death, shoot/don’t shoot situations where there’s a little bit of skin in the game literally, because they’re gonna get shot with rubber bullets that sting pretty if they make the wrong decision, or they don’t act quick enough or they hesitate,” he said. “It gives them a perspective of just just how fast officers have to make very important decisions out on the street.”
Participants will also get to learn defensive tactics, field sobriety tests and go on tours of the police department, their training center, the Johnson County 911 center and the county jail. New this year will be virtual reality training scenarios, Ison said. The department added a virtual reality component to their own trainings after receiving money from the city to do so last year.
Once they complete a ride-along and graduate, participants receive a certificate and become part of the Citizens Academy Alumni. Many of them have offered to volunteer to help GPD with their National Night Out or different events they hold where volunteers are needed, Ison said.
Feedback on the academy has been “overwhelmingly positive,” Ison said. Many of the comments talk about how people had no idea how stressful the situations officers face can be, he said.
While it may seem like a lot, first and foremost “it’s fun” and everyone enjoys it, Ison said. Every call, he asks participants what their favorite topic was, and while he thinks it would be just one topic, the common answer he gets is they loved it all, he said.
“They get to interact with the officers. They get to realize that officers are human just like them,” Ison said. “We get up and pull our pants on the same way every morning. We have feelings, and … it just creates a forum to have a very positive interaction with members of the community while also educating them on what we do daily.”
Applications for this year’s academy are being accepted until July 15. Applicants are required to live within the city of Greenwood, be at least 18 years old, have no criminal history, pass a mandatory background check, be willing to sign liability waivers and be committed to attending all 11 classes.
To apply, residents can to go greenwood.in.gov/police and click on the “Citizens Police Academy” subheading to find and fill out an application. Once completed, the application should be emailed to Public Relations Officer Jason Grable at [email protected].
AT A GLANCE
Citizens Police Academy
What: An 11-week Greenwood Police Department course designed to educate citizens and community stakeholders on training, policies and procedures and job responsibilities associated with policing.
When: Tuesdays from 6 to 8 p.m. Classes run from Aug. 13 to Oct. 29.
How to take part: Complete and submit an application located greenwood.in.gov/police before July 15. Must be a city of Greenwood resident of at least 18 years of age. Must comply with other requirements listed on application.
Topics schedule:
- Week 1 — Welcome; Course Overview; Organizations Structure; Training Center Tour; Police Department Tour
- Week 2 — Traffic Stops; Shoot/Don’t Shoot; K-9 Demonstrations
- Week 3 — CIT; Immediate Detention; Accident Investigation; STOPS Debrief
- Week 4 — Search and Seizure; Constitutional Law
- Week 5 — Jail Tour; 911 Communications Tour
- Week 6 — Use of Force; Taser; Vehicle Pursuits
- Week 7 — Criminal Investigations; Crime Scene Processing; Property Room
- Week 8: — Narcotics; SWAT; Virtual Reality Scenarios
- Week 9 — OWI/SFSTs; Active Shooter
- Week 10 — Ride-alongs
- Week 11 — No class — Fall Break
- Week 12 — Graduation
